A scene from The White Guard (archive)

MOSCOW, July 31. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s ban on the Russian biopic Poddubny encouraged many Russians to go to the cinema and see the film once again, chairman of Russian Union of Cinematographers, filmmaker and 1994 Oscar winner Nikita Mikhalkov said on Thursday.

Ukraine’s state cinema agency refused to issue distribution certificate for Russian films The White Guard and Poddubny. This prompted Russian viewers to see Poddubny once again “to find from what champions of the nation’s purity of thought in Ukraine are trying to save their cinemagoers”, he told in an interview to ITAR-TASS.

Such actions of the Ukrainian government were hard to comment, he added. “How can one comment on any decisions of semiliterate menials that wrested the power they longed for?” Mikhalkov wondered. “How can one comment explaining a ban on the film about a great Russian wrestler Ivan Poddubny with a wish to protect the honour and dignity of the people of Ukraine? Isn’t it as clear as daylight that to protect others’ honour and dignity, these champions should have that dignity themselves?”

Speaking of the situation in Ukraine, Mikhalkov said no dignity can be expected from people “who publicly sign international agreements and flagrantly violate them the next day” and “burst into power on the shoulders of a vulgar crowd, overthrow the government and attempt to speak on behalf of the whole nation after that”.

“How can one speak of honour and dignity of these people if they annihilate their country’s civilians without the slightest hesitation? While constantly calling for end of military actions, they pledge to end military actions on their part but by no means think of doing it,” said Mikhalkov.